Madeleine Albright

The disingenuousness of U.S. foreign policy is breathtaking. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright lambasted Myanmar's government at the annual summit of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, rightfully accusing it of everything from drug trafficking to Orwellian authoritarianism. For this she receives a front section article in The Times describing her diplomacy as "unusually tough" (July 28).

There was no mention in her harangue, however, of fellow ASEAN member Indonesia (a U.S. ally) and its illegal invasion of--and campaign of mass genocide in--East Timor. It seems that the U.S. is not really interested in punishing the blatantly immoral behavior of other nations; if it were, such double standards would not exist. Be it our policy toward China as opposed to Cuba or Indonesia as opposed to Myanmar, Albright is just another in a long line of hypocritical secretaries of State standing on a self-righteous soapbox to uphold the self-serving ends of her own nation-state.